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Country Driving
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Country Driving (2010) (edit title/settings)

A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory

by Peter Hessler (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker , where he served as the Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, and is also a contributing writer for National Geographic . He is the author of River Town , which won the Kiriyama Book Prize, and Oracle Bones , which was a finalist for... read more

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “P.109: These regions benefited from snowmelt; in the distance I could see the white-capped peaks of the Himalayas. And all at once the desert drabness gave way to brilliant colour: the hard blue of the springtime sky, the deep green of the grasslands. Animals grazed in open pastures, and streams ran fast beside the fields. It was ranchland — as wide and welcoming as the high plains of Montana.”
  • “P.197: The walnut season had returned, and we passed dozens of men armed with their long sticks. It was a beautiful morning — clear and warm, the sun about to rise above the eastern ridgeline.”
  • “P.374: In China it's common for people in restaurants to complain about food. The Chinese can be passive about many things, but food is not one of them; I suppose this is one reason they've ended up with a first-rate cuisine and a long history of political disasters.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • In China, much of life involves skirting regulations, and one of the basic truths is that forgiveness comes easier than permission.
    Highlighted by 146 Kindle customers
  • Inevitably, any nation is tempted to waste its greatest wealth, and in China this resource happens to be human.
    Highlighted by 109 Kindle customers
  • Long-term planning made no sense: the goal was gain some profit today before you found yourself overwhelmed by the next wave of change.
    Highlighted by 96 Kindle customers
  • The phrase he used—Shan gao huangdi yuan, The mountains are high, the emperor far away—is common in rural China. People invariably believe that problems are local, and that higher-ranked leaders are honest and decent; it’s rare to meet somebody who is cynical about the system to its core.
    Highlighted by 93 Kindle customers
  • To this day, this is the strength of the Chinese. It’s not force. It’s not that they’ve got spies or secret police. It’s that there is something about being a part of this Chinese world that is appealing to the people around it.”
    Highlighted by 93 Kindle customers
  • But from what I saw, the nation’s greatest turmoil was more personal and internal. Many people were searching; they longed for some kind of religious or philosophical truth, and they wanted a meaningful connection with others. They had trouble applying past experiences to current challenges. Parents and children occupied different worlds, and marriages were complicated—rarely did I know a Chinese couple who seemed happy together. It was all but impossible for people to keep their bearings in a country that changed so fast.
    Highlighted by 85 Kindle customers
  • In China it’s common for people in restaurants to complain about food. The Chinese can be passive about many things, but food is not one of them; I suppose this is one reason they’ve ended up with a first-rate cuisine and a long history of political disasters.
    Highlighted by 80 Kindle customers
  • north—more than one-fourth of China’s land suffers from desertification, and the total area of stricken regions expands by an estimated 1,300 square miles every year. According to the United Nations, four hundred million Chinese live in places threatened by desertification.
    Highlighted by 69 Kindle customers
  • But everybody knew the basic principle of the Reform years: It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
    Highlighted by 54 Kindle customers
  • I often felt like that in China; the place had a way of making me feel slow-witted. Sometimes I benefited from this stupidity, especially as a writer. Over the years I had learned to be patient, and probably I was more open-minded than I had ever been in America. But my reactions could be slow and sometimes a situation developed before I could respond. In any case, life is complicated in China, and often there isn’t a good solution regardless of how quick you are. The people have a common expression for that: Mei banfa, they often say. Nothing can be done.
    Highlighted by 44 Kindle customers
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First Sentence edit see section history

There are still empty roads in China, especially on the western steppes, where the highways to the Himalayas carry little traffic other than dust and wind.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Amazon Book Club Picks. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Peter Hessler (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: HARPER
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 0061804096
Page Count: 448

Classification edit see section history

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